This tutorial explains the contact features by using a tutorial to add a new contact. There are several helpful tips at the bottom of this tutorial.
Six Ways to Add Contacts
Each of these methods has pros and cons. Method and best reason to use this method:
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Adding an individual contact.
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You have just received several new names from an existing contact, and have very limited information about these new contacts.
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To import an existing database you have saved as a text file. Best for first-time users who have been managing their contacts in another software.
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To import an existing contact list from Outlook. You may find it easier to export from Outlook to text first.
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If you are manually entering a set of contacts from paper.
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Automatic Download from your organization’s donor files.
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If your organization supports this method, this is a fast way to populate your database with those who have given financially. Note that the information your organization has on your ministry partners may not exactly match your list.
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Tutorial: Adding / Editing a contact
| 1. | Press the <New Contact> button. |
| 2. | Enter the name, addresses (home, business, and/or other), and phone. |
| 3. | Update the Greetings if you desire. |
Read More > Greetings
If you have added a new contact who has the same last name as an existing contact, TntMPD will ask you if this new contact is the same as an existing contact. This is called Matching.
Read More > Matching Contacts
| 5. | Double-click in any of the six boxes to edit them. Or click once inside the box then press the button at right. |
You can have up to 19 different phone numbers for each contact. You can choose which one is the “preferred” phone number shown at the top in the main address window.
| 7. | If the wife has a different last name than the husband, uncheck Same Last Name and enter the wife’s last name. The spouse’s last name will appear both on the address bar and in the contact list as shown below. |
Tip: Name entry. Husband always goes first.
Although you may know the wife better than the husband (you may not know the husband at all), it is essential that with a married couple the husband's name always goes first. TntMPD automatically creates name and address mailing blocks, and if you use titles (Mr/Mrs), you will get unusual results if you put the wife first.
Read More > Tutorial: Adding/Editing a Contact
Five ways to edit information about your contacts
| 1. | Double-click in the field you want to edit (e.g., Home (address), Telephone, Internet, etc.). |
| 2. | Put your cursor in any of the six yellow boxes and press the button that appears to the right of that box. |
| 3. | Press the <Edit Contact> button. |
This will bring up the contact’s name and address box (the same one used when you added a new contact on the previous page). You can pick a specific address (home, business, or other) by clicking the address drop-down box.
| 4. | Single-click on their name in the Address Window at top: |
| 5. | Double-click on their address in the Address Window. |
Address Tips
Tip: Name & Address Bar hotspots
You can click (or double-click) on almost anything in the Name & Address bar and act on it
| • | Picture [even if there is no picture] |
| • | Name & Address [to edit] |
| • | Phone number [to initiate a call task] |
| • | Email [to initiate an email using your email provider] |
| • | Summary Data: MPD Phase, Status Dot, or Monthly Average [opens the MPD Tab] |
| • | Summary Data: Organization Account Number [opens View Organization Info] |
Read More > Managing Contacts Overview
Tip: Using Titles or Not
TntMPD uses the Title (Mr/Mrs) to define the Full Name, which is used in the Mailing Address Block. When you do use titles, TntMPD will show only the husband's name in the Name & Address bar. However, the spouse's name will still be in the Current Group list.
Tip: Unknown spouse. Question: What if the contact is a couple but I do not know the husband's name?
Put the wife's name as the primary contact, and use "Mrs" in the title field to indicate she is married. In the Notes field, type something relevant that describes why his name is not in the name fields, such as "Husband unknown." or "Husband (Bill) does not know the Lord."
TntMPD is pretty flexible with names, but one thing it will not allow is a contact with a spouse (wife) name entered but not a primary name.
This is a more obvious issue when the husband is unknown because the guideline is that the husband's name always goes first. But when the husband is unknown, you have to choose how to resolve that. When the wife is unknown, you can treat the husband as if he is single, and TntMPD will not notice the difference.
Tip: Adjust Data Entry Order for names or addresses
The default data entry order is the U.S./Canada format. Many countries put the Postal Code before the City, and many countries do not use any state or province code. Similarly, some cultures always start with the last name. If this is true with your country, you can change the data entry order using the Options.
Read More > International Tab
Tip: Address / Phone numbers out of sync with your organization
Out of sync. When a contact’s address/phone in TntMPD has an unresolved discrepancy with your organization’s address/phone, their address/phone will be bold and red. There is a special Lookup just to find and resolve all these issues
Click on the red address or phone to view your organization's information.
If you see the organization's address is one you know is an old address, contact the office so they can update their address.
Read More > Address / Phone Out of Sync
Note: TntMPD will only compare your organization's address with your database when you use Address Input from Web. It will not make this comparison on an ongoing basis as you download gifts. When you do an Address Input from Web, it will clear any choices you made previously about whether to accept TntMPD or accept your organization.
Tip: Mailing Address Block
Remember that for envelopes, TntMPD will ignore the recipient’s Country if it is the same as the country you are mailing from. This is defined in the Options. (More literally, this is pre-defined by TntMPD in a field called the "Mailing Address Block", which TntMPD creates by putting all the address fields together for the one address you have selected as the 'primary' address.)
You can manually modify the Mailing Address Block. You may want to do this when the block would have a unique wording.
Example: You may want to address to "The Jetson Family" or "Uncle George & Aunt Jane".
